


Hunk Houdini

by Lunarium



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Magic Tricks, magic show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-21 15:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12460419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lunarium/pseuds/Lunarium
Summary: Hunk accidentally lets slip that he knows magic card tricks. Allura wishes to see him perform a magic card show.





	Hunk Houdini

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aestivali](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aestivali/gifts).



“There it is,” Hunk said as he leaned over Pidge’s shoulder. “There’s our guy.” 

On the radar blinked their target: a gemstone of concentrated quintessence. It had hurled out of the Rift and was sent flying across the cosmos during the last battle. Zarkon had sent his generals to retrieve it. They needed to get it before Haggar got her claws on it. 

“Looks like a tooth,” Pidge said with a cock of one eyebrow. “A saber tooth.” 

“A crystalized sugar saber tooth!” The thought alone made his mouth water. 

_“What?”_

Hunk gave a sheepish grin. 

“Where did it land?” Allura asked. She was busy piloting the Blue Lion in which they were all riding in. It was agreed taking one Lion on this mission was best. 

Pidge typed away for a few seconds into her laptop before a frown crossed her face. 

“…Earth. It landed at home, Hunk,” she said. She turned to face him. “Do you trust to bring Allura there?” 

Hunk thought for a moment before shrugging. They glanced back at Allura. Her focus had gone back to navigating through space while Pidge and Hunk settled a little further back. 

“Why not? Not like the government is likely to drag her off to Area 51…” 

“Hunk…”

“…Or tie her up like what they did with Shiro when he crash landed.” 

“Hunk!” 

“Hey, they could drag us away too or tie us up if they wanted! We’re all supposed to be dead, remember, so if we all show up alive and well, they’re going to be asking questions and—”

Pidge laughed. 

Hunk pressed his palms together. “That all being said, I would not mind dropping by to check up on my family.” 

“Yeah…I want to see my mom too, just to tell her Matt and I are okay,” Pidge said as her face softened. “But I don’t think that’s where that quintessence tooth landed.” 

“Great. It fell into a volcano? Are we going Frodo Baggins on this?” 

“Nope. Just need to hide somewhere within these quadrants. It looks like a busy place.” Pidge glanced over at Allura. “She’ll need a disguise.”

*

Allura slept between them. They booked a room at a hotel using most of the money they still had on them, and led a very wide-eyed and curious Allura to their suite. _Suite_ perhaps sounded a bit too fancy word for the sort of hotel they had chosen and could afford, but it was still enough to enchant the princess. She had grown silent the moment they told her where the crystal had landed, and upon seeing Earth for the first time, tears sparkled in her eyes.

“This is your home planet?” she asked. “It’s beautiful, like a marbled jewel.” 

They had agreed to sleep on either side of her, just in case any of Zarkon’s fiends came sniffing them out in the night. They didn’t have the invisibility shield of the Green Lion, so they had to take some creative licenses in parking Blue. They hoped no one would notice, or just assume the Blue Lion was some overpriced fancy decor of the city. The city did have a history of enjoying some bizarre art, especially sculptures, that Blue could fit right in as some mad artist’s idea of Great Art. 

Sleep didn’t come easy for Hunk, but it had little to do with worry about attack, the traffic outside at night — he certainly didn’t miss how busy and rude people on Earth were in the middle of the night! — or the thought of calling his mother tomorrow morning to tell her he was fine. 

It was how lovely Allura looked right beside him, her sleeping face a thing of beauty that could rival every artist’s depiction of the angels. 

_Whoa, getting mushy there_ , Hunk told himself. 

It was going to be a long night.

*

They had reached Earth during mid Autumn. Pidge had set their smartphones to continue keeping track of Earth’s time even when they were far from the Milky Way, but sometimes time worked a little differently in some parts of outer space. They went through wormholes, have gotten trapped in them, have gone through cosmic storms and other atmospheres that threatened the dashboard readings on their lions. Given all that, it was reasonable to assume their timers were off a bit. Like, six months off.

“Did that much time really pass?” Hunk wondered with a frown as they strolled around. 

At least Allura was enjoying herself. She glanced about herself with a smile, feeling the autumn wind against her face, admiring the foliage of the trees, watching the humans bustling about with a yearning smile that made Hunk wonder if she was recalling some memory of Altean civilians out and about on the city. Her love for the season grew infectious, and soon enough Hunk found himself arguing animatedly with Pidge for a time before finally, having won, Hunk went to claim his prize. He presented Allura with a cup from a nearby coffee shop. 

“Pumpkin spice latte,” Hunk said. “It’s the thing to die for around here at this time of year!”

“Thank you, Hunk,” Allura said, smiling. Pidge made gagging sounds nearby. Allura gave her a quizzical look, perhaps wondering why her Green Paladin hated this drink so much. She took a sip and beamed. 

“Hunk!” she said happily. “It tastes just like autumn! I quite enjoy it!” 

Pidge groaned behind them. 

They located the crystal and after a bit of work, managed to extract it successfully. To their surprise, it was far smaller than they anticipated, which meant lugging it back to the Lion went quicker than anticipated. 

It left them with more time to mingle on Earth, and they decided to take the opportunity. They didn’t know when they would get their next chance, and Allura seemed to be greatly enjoying herself. 

Earth had been delegated as a primitive planet by the Galra, but with such rich lively culture Allura thought them odd for writing off Earth as such. And perhaps thankful, for the it would be one less planet that needed their aid in being freed from the Galra. She rambled this to Hunk and Pidge happily as they visited shop after shop, enjoying the weather and smelling the delicious foods from the small independently-owned restaurants nearby. 

They approached a bookshop and Allura could not help wanting to take a peek inside. 

“Your bookshops are so colorful!” she marveled. 

Grinning at one another, Hunk and Pidge dispersed to find a few books they could buy with what remained in their pockets. Mainly things that would be useful at the Castle. And perhaps a couple of fiction novels to pass the time, as Altean ideas of good fiction were _odd_. 

That was when Hunk saw the display and froze, struck by instant nostalgia. Allura happened by a while later, noting Hunk gazing longingly at the display. 

“Get it,” she said. “We don’t know when we might return to Earth. If it’s something you want…” 

“Well…” Hunk chuckled. “This is going to sound funny, but…it’s magic. Magic card tricks.” 

Allura’s eyes shone — positively _sparkled_ , and so much so that Hunk’s face nearly drained of blood. She was so beautiful, and suddenly he realized his mistake. “You do magic? I never knew, Hunk! I would love to see you do a magic show for me!”

A magic show. For _me_. 

Holy crow. For a moment Hunk totally had a Lance moment, imagining Allura positively fawning all over him as he impressed her with trick after trick. But the moment was gone in a flash just as crippling self-doubt bore down on him. 

Hunk rubbed the back of his head. “Oh, not that kind of magic, Princess! Nothing that you can do! It’s just illusion and trickery of the eye, slight of hand, things like that.”

But Allura took a step back. “So? Sounds like fun! I would very much like to see you do magic card tricks! Please?”

*

He was an idiot.

An outright fool. 

He should have just kept his mouth shut. Said he remembered his dad or neighbor doing the magic tricks, not _him_ , and he wouldn’t be in this mess. Now they were all back at the Castle, the crystal safe in their possession, and Hunk was freaking out in his room. The new book and a fresh new stack of cards — two, in fact, as some tricks required a red and blue deck — laid out on his bed. 

His heart hammered. He should just cook her the most decadent cake ever imaginable, pull out all of his culinary tricks and wow her with _that_ and maybe she’ll eat so much cake she’ll fall asleep and Hunk could just pretend she missed the entire show and beg his friends to lie and say how good it was—

“Hey, man!” 

Lance popped his head in Hunk’s room. 

“So what’s this about Allura and you on a date?” he asked brightly. 

Hunk groaned. “It’s not a date. She wants to see me do magic, that’s all. Once she sees how stupid this is compared to what she can do, what Alteans like her and Haggar can do…” 

“Relax, man! You should see how much she gets into it when the Space Mice show her a routine! She’s going to love it!” 

“Great, so I’m like one of the Space Mice now?” 

Laughing, Lance threw an arm around Hunk’s shoulder and dragged him over to the closet. 

“So…are you going to be putting on the best magic card show ever?” Lance asked excitedly before slipping close until he was speaking into Hunk’s ear. “Buddy, my man, you got to look the part! But don’t worry ‘cause Lance’s got you covered!”

*

Well, Lance had kept well to his promise, Hunk thought later, smiling nervously as he looked about himself again. It became a joint effort by Lance and Coran but they had fixed Hunk up real good. They attired him in a slick black suit, a jet black formal coat with a long tail that glimmered red over the linings. His headband was removed and instead he wore a bright red — _magic red_ , Lance had called it — band as a low ponytail, to accentuate the image of the act he was about to perform.

Coran had found an old black top hat Hunk could use, but he kept it nearby on the table. He didn’t think he would be needing it for any of his tricks, and he didn’t have any of the animals needed to perform an animal-pulling from hats, to Lance’s dismay. For this he just need his deck of cards and an empty card box. And some confidence. 

“Is everything ready?” Allura asked breathlessly as she entered the room. 

Hunk’s heart shot right up to his throat and lodged there. It throbbed painfully as he tried to clear his throat and steady his nerves. He grabbed for his first act and posed right before her, grinning. 

Her showed her the card in his hand, an Ace of Spades, before, with a loud flick, it suddenly turned into the Jack of Diamonds. Allura gasped and applauded. She ran and settled herself right before him. 

_Okay, this is it. Show time, big guy_ , Hunk thought to himself. 

“I want you to pick a card, any card,” he began as he spread out the desk before Allura. She excitedly reached out, and her hand wavered as if she could sense something magical within the small cardboard pieces. Finally she selected one and handed it over to Hunk with a smile. 

“Five of Hearts!” she announced with triumph, and Hunk had to smile at the coincidence. Five hearts, five Paladins. 

“Curious you picked that,” Hunk said as he took her card and placed it back on the deck, “as this card, you see, is a very special card…” 

“Like the five Paladins of Voltron!” Allura said with a dreamy smile. 

Even Hunk had to grin. 

“Yes, like the Paladins,” he said. “But, watch closely…because it’s curious that this card is within my deck but also…” He smashed the empty card box and out bounced the Five of Hearts. 

“I have no idea why it does that,” Hunk said with a little chuckle and placed it over the deck. “And sometimes this Five of Hearts,” he rolled it again to first show her before facing down again, “…decides it’s the King of Clubs.” He flipped the card over again, and sure enough—

Allura gasped. “It’s formed Voltron!” 

Hunk laughed. “You could say that!” He tapped the card again, showed it was the Five of Hearts, then turned it over and tapped the box again. Out bounced the Five of Hearts again. 

“How did you…” Allura watched, stunned, before sitting back with her eyes wide and glimmering with admiration. “Oh, if you combined this with the Space Mice’s routines, this would become the best show in the universe!” 

He tried not to think of performing this in front of a much larger audience and accidentally messing up. Hunk stuck the card in the middle then began shuffling. So far, so good. His next set up involved laying out a few cards face-up in front of Allura. 

“There is a card here that is a very special card. Do you know which card that is?” 

Again Allura focused, her hand wavering over them before finally she pointed to the Nine of Clubs. Hunk could barely hide his grin. 

“That’s fascinating,” he said as he pulled the card away from the deck. He gathered up the rest and began, at random, tossing them down in a pile, occasionally turning them over to show her their backs. “You see…each card in this set is red but you picked—” he picked up the Nine of Clubs and turned it over. “—the only blue card.” 

“It knows I pilot the Blue Lion!” Allura gasped. 

_Bicycle is getting a long glowing fan mail_ , Hunk thought with a grin. 

Now for the third trick, and Hunk was feeling pretty good. Allura was really enjoying herself, and he was becoming more confident with this. Even more, the fun part about this next trick was that it had a story attached to make it all the more fun, and he had been rehashing how to update it for Allura, just to amuse her. 

“Want to hear the tale of how Lotor’s generals robbed the Intergalactic Bank?” he began. 

Allura’s eyes widened and she nodded her head. No wonder why the Space Mice loved her. 

The identities of the four generals became known to them recently, about a month after their battle with them. If the others knew how Hunk was utilizing this new bit of news, they would laugh, but if Allura was already enjoying the show…

Hunk cleared his throat again. “As the story goes, the four notorious women were known as Acxa, Ezor, Zethrid, and Narti.” As he spoke he drew out each card of a Queen and laid them on the table for Allura to see: the Queen of Spades, the Queen of Hearts, the Queen of Clubs, and the Queen of Diamonds. “These women worked for Prince Lotor and one day he sent them on a mission: to steal from the Intergalactic Bank.” 

“Ah, why would he steal from the bank if it belongs to his father?” Allura asked. 

Hunk’s mind drew momentarily blank. “Why did he steal a teleduv from a Galra base that belonged to him?” 

Allura thought for a moment, then nodded and motioned for him to continue as she leaned forward eagerly. “All right.” 

Hunk set the deck of cards on the table with the Queens on top, face-up, then picked them up again and showed her each card before placing them all face-down on top of the deck. All save the Queen of Spades — Acxa — who remained face-up for a moment before Hunk placed her aside. 

“Now the mission and how the group was split: 

“Ezor, who could win the hearts of any, was sent to the first level so she may rob the cash registers.” He slipped the card within the top quarter position of the deck. 

“Zethrid, being the most brash, was sent down to tackle through security and rob the gold.” At that he placed the second card in the middle position. 

“And Narti, the most stealthy of them all, went down to treasury.” The final card slipped into the last quarter position of the deck. 

“And where does Acxa go?” Allura asked. 

“Acxa remained outside the bank,” Hunk explained. “She stood and kept on eye out for any signs of trouble, and once she heard Voltron coming to stop them, she called for her friends to escape!” He tapped the Queen of Spades against the deck then lifted the first card. Up came the Queen of Hearts, the Queen of Clubs, and the Queen of Diamonds. 

“Impossible!” Allura cried out, gripping the edge of her seat. 

Hunk laughed, adored by her reaction too much to realize he was laughing at the beloved Princess of Altea. 

Allura sprung up and grabbed him by the arms. 

“Hunk! You must show me how you performed that trick!” she begged. 

“It’s magic!” Hunk said, a little uncertain and hurt. 

“But that’s brilliant!” Allura said. “Please? I promise it will not ruin the charm of this performance!” 

Hunk took a step back. “All right…” He set up the magic trick again. “When I had placed the Queens face-up on the deck, I counted three cards and held them up with my pinkie. When I pulled the cards and was rolling each one face-down, those three random cards were tucked under my last Queen. In this case, the Queen of Hearts. When I stacked them, I tried to make it look like they had all entered the bank, and when I was grabbing the cards from the top, I wanted you to think I was putting each Queen into the deck, but the truth was I was putting in a random card off the top. So when ‘Acxa’ called the cards up, you would think I had magically called the Queens back to the top of the deck, but in actuality…they were all on the top from the beginning!” 

“So you put in decoys…” Allura said under her breath, enchanted. “We can use this…” 

“Er, yeah,” Hunk said with a shrug. Arms suddenly swept around him as soft lips met his, and a flowery scent filled his nostrils. With it lingered a scent of something fruity, like strawberries yet sweeter. His mind immediately tried to pinpoint the flower and berry before he mentally pushed himself to just stop thinking for a moment. It was bad enough with his mind spinning from the kiss, spinning so fast he felt he was about to pass out. 

Allura pulled back and Hunk gave a big sigh, searching for the right words. “Well. Um. Yeah.” 

Allura beamed at him. “Decoys! I was just thinking…if we were to send decoys into a Galra fleet, decoys who look like us or like the Galra…”

“While three of the Paladins control the decoys remotely…” Hunk continued. “There _are_ some tough areas to get to in the fleet, so if the decoys are built to look like the sentries…” 

“And we take orders from someone from _outside_ the fleet…” 

Allura grinned.

In their excitement, Hunk didn’t realize they were holding hands. Allura was still close, and he could see the sparkles in her eyes as the new plan hatched and formed in her mind. 

And the more Hunk thought about it, the more excited he became at the prospect of it as well. 

And all from a pack of cards. 

“All right, show over, I guess?” Hunk said. “Time to get this plan rolling?” 

“Yes,” Allura said. “Hunk, I could kiss you forever!” 

Hunk laughed. “We battle-strategized! Based on a deck of cards!”


End file.
